The present invention relates to a wheelchair and more specifically to a wheelchair which permits the chair to be separated from the wheeled chassis and supported on an automobile seat.
Heretofore there have been provided many mechanisms for transferring handicapped persons into an automobile. Prior art devices include slings which are supported from hanging arms and which may position a person over a car seat and lower the person onto the seat. Because of the limited area provided for entrance into a car it is exceedingly difficult to manoeuver a person into a car with such devices. Furthermore, of course, there is the additional difficulty in placing a patient in such a sling and removing the sling after transport.
There have been developed wheelchairs which permit the transfer of a person from a wheeled supporting frame into a vehicle or for bringing the entire wheelchair into the vehicle. U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,278,387; 4,170,368; 4,365,924; 4,354,791; 3,515,294; 3,865,427 and 4,483,653 are typical wheelchair designs of this type. All of these prior art devices require some modification of the structure of the automobile. These modifications include complete removal of the car seat, insertion of rotatable support arms within the car or insertion of trackways in the car seat. The device of the present invention requires no modification whatsoever of an automobile so that a person utilizing a wheelchair manufactured in accordance with the present disclosure may be transferred into any automobile quickly and easily without in any way altering the structure of the car.